The stars will shine bright in Hollywood tomorrow night, when Bryce Harper makes his major-league debut with Stephen Strasburg on the mound for the Nationals. But tonight's series opener at Dodger Stadium is no slouch of a ballgame.

Clayton Kershaw, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, starts for Los Angeles. Matt Kemp, last year's NL MVP runner-up, has been playing out of his mind so far this season. And Nationals left-hander Ross Detwiler only boasts an 0.56 ERA entering his fourth start of the year.

Davey Johnson will try out a new-look lineup for this one, trying to stack up as many of his best right-handed hitters as he can. Jayson Werth gets bumped up the No. 3 spot. Danny Espinosa gets bumped down to the 6-hole. Adam LaRoche hits cleanup, but he's the only left-handed batter in the lineup.

I'm not in town for tonight's game, but I've got good news: I just booked a morning flight to LAX, and I'll be reporting live from the scene at tomorrow's extravaganza (as well as Sunday's series finale). Until then, enjoy tonight's game and the conversation…

Lucky you! Just heard the local talk-sports-radio guy give a very positive spin on Detwiler ("the best pitcher you've never heard of"). This is a guy who normally only talks about Ducks football, pro-basketball, and hockey. He then gave a plug for tomorrow's Nats-Dodgers game, mentioning Harper's debut without saying anything about eye-black or blowing kisses. I was surprised and impressed.

I guess Davey told Lombo to man up and play 3rd base for a week and Espy he was going down in the order until he improves his OBP…Have a 7:15 flight tomorrow a.m. (not to LAX unfortunately) so I will get about 4 hours of sleep tonight. Please, please, no extra innings!

… when one of my hockey-room buddies tells me he can't 'get into' baseball this early in the year "when it's so meaningless", I simply smile and think of weekends like this: is there anywhere else to be but in front of my TV/radio/laptop? Can't think of any…. God, I wish I lived in La-La-land!Go Nats!!

NatsBlog is optimistic based on sabermetrics:Clippard’s FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, this year is an incredibly low 2.34 despite his astronomical 6.00 ERA. FIP basically tells you what a pitcher’s ERA should be based on league average BABIP, timing, and home runs surrendered. FIP is a future predictor, which indicates Clippard’s ERA stands to go way, way down.Clippard’s SIERA, or Skill-Interactive ERA, is an above-average 3.72. SIERA is designed to be an even more accurate model of evaluating pitching than FIP, and FanGraphs describes it as “an attempt to more accurately model what makes a pitcher successful.” While a bit higher than his FIP, Clippard’s SIERA also indicates that he is set to improve drastically.Is anything wrong with Tyler Clippar?http://www.thenatsblog.com/2012-articles/april/is-anything-wrong-with-tyler-clippard.html

This team is going to be lucky to be .500 by June 1st. Very lucky. We have one of the worst offenses in the league and have played 4 or 5 of the worst teams in the NL and can only score 3+ runs a game. Have we even faced a top 40 pitcher yet??? Kershaw could get 20 K's tonight. I am so sick of this offense. Record setting pitching with record setting offense.

Mick: Kemp is fitting around 450 and Ethier has a SWEEEET swing…you gotta throw Ethier outside inthe dirt and get him to chase…1st and 2nd with the rest of the lineup coming up is not that bad..unfortunately the Dodgers don't have a Harper to call up

FP, why, why did I turn off the mute… admiring Desi swinging on the first pitch, "Kershaw is dominant on a 2 strike count so why wait around?" Kershaw has a 4-pitch inning.Maybe so Ross can have a rest? Maybe to run up the pitch count?

Michele, I'm sweating this series and the early May series vs Phillies because they are significant tests for this Nats team. Is our pitching good enough to compensate for our below average offense? So far not so good. But Detwiler can be forgiven for that hanging curve to Ethier if Strasburg and Gio can deal this weekend. Not giving up on this game just yet

I'm taking the pledge on the Maalox, and going hitterish. Geez, people, you're supposed to root FOR your own team. I won't insult cats by commenting further.——————————-Who wouldn't be excited about a 250 hitter that commits an error every 4 games?I hope I'm wrong, just not feeling this one, but I do trust Rizzo and Davy. I guess we'll cross our fingers and hope it was the right decision. Other than errors he can't be much worse than what's in left already.

Actually, Scott, that's a really good question — and a fun mental exercise — except for one thing. What team in any situation would trade three weeks of a 19 year d, still learning Bryce Harper for a year of team control at age 25?Take that issue away and it's interesting to think about.

I'm not advocating this, but he's available:CLEVELAND (AP) — The struggling Los Angeles Angels released slumping outfielder Bobby Abreu on Friday night.The 38-year-old two-time All-Star had been relegated to part-time duty and was batting .208 in 24 at-bats for the last-place Angels (6-14).Abreu is in the last season of a $27 million, three-year contract and is due $9 million this year.

baseballdude, I look at it this way, if we win the series' against teams we are suppose to this year and still come up short verse Dodgers, Cards, Phils and Braves, that shows us how much more work Rizzo has to do. We are still not that far off, but we are still far enough away to be a League Champion

Some news on the braves as well (so we aren't the only ones with injuries):Buster Olney‏@Buster_ESPN Braves announced rib cage strain for Brian McCann. Same kind of injury he had last year. Day-to-day, Braves say.

I hate to keep bringing up the NYRangers (I dont actually) but they signed a player to a 3 year contract about 2 weeks ago and activated him, burning one year of his contract, so he could contrinbute in the playoffs..you have to put whats best for the team over money..as bad an owner as dan snyder has been he's not cheap (see Angelos, p)

mick said… we suck Dude, they have won EVERY SERIES THEY HAVE PLAYED…and they have two good starters going sat sun with the biggest prospect since kerry wood playing…and this game is in the 5th inning…things could be so much worse

Actually, I don't think there's a single team in baseball that would have called Harper up before now. It was an absolute no-brainer to ensure team control for his age 25 season. Check that, it would have been flagrant baseball malpractice to do otherwise. But Rizzo's decision to bring him up now was gutsy and totally unexpected. We spent the last two days talking about options to improve our hitting — Tyler Moore (can he really play LF?), Corey Brown (he has options, right?), possible trades (is Span still out there? should we have gone for Marlon Byrd?), and the answer was staring us right in the face. We thought Rizzo went to Syracuse to see whether Tyler Moore was ready and it turns out he was assessing Harper. Amazing. Whatever happens, this year just got a lot more interesting. I can't wait to see what Rizzo decides once Morse is ready to come back if Harper is playing reasonably well and LaRoche is still hitting? Does Bryce move to CF? I'm sure that will be grist for a few 200 comment posts sometime in June.This Kershaw guy is pretty good….

The NY Mets fan base is growling..Madoff..low payroll…but they are grinding this year..if you think that fan base and the ny media would have sat back while stras was kept in the minors as jason bay and whever else did ntohing you don't know New York

222: Very well put. Also, I give Mr. Detwiler a lot of credit here. He's the youngest (in experience, at least, if not age) of the rotation and he's handling himself well despite giving up the runs. Just as he did against the Reds. This year was supposed to be about 'learning to win' and that means taking some losses along the way. And with those losses come learning experiences. As you say, bringing Mr. Harper up only makes things more interesting — as did that HR!

Section 222, I think once Morse returns, Werth will move to CF, Harper in RF, and Ankiel to the bench, just like the rumored plan all along.And Davey Johnson, please admit you're wrong: DeRosa can no longer hit at the major league level.

NatsLady: You could be right, but I think you can just as easily interpret it as the front office looking at how teams like the Phillies and the Marlins are playing and concluding that a playoff berth is a realistic possibility. Not a guarantee (by any means) and only realistic with some additional offense — even if/when Mr. Morse returns. At least that's the way I'm spinning it.

Harper in RF, Werth in CF and Morse in LFThat seemed to be the plan early in ST, but by the end, they seemed to change their tune, particularly because of a concern over how playing CF every day would wear on Werth. And Harper was playing 1 of every 3 days in center, right? Anyway, that decision is at least a 6 weeks down the road I expect.

Sorry, Scott, but a 'bizarre theory' would be that Mr. Morse has been infected with an unknown malady by the CIA or space aliens. Expressing doubts about the Nats' medical diagnoses is perfectly reasonable. Yes, it's speculation, but not outlandish speculation.

I'd like to think to Harper move is a direct plea for more offense. But, Nats Lady, you have now planted a nasty seed in my brain. If Zimm was just a minor day-to-day thing that landed him on the DL, Storen and that strep throat cockamamie story, then the dots connecting Morse and the words "season-ending injury" are fairly easy to connect. Who knows? Between the Nats Baghdad Bob PR machine and their CVS Minute-Clinic approach to sports medicine, you may actually be spot on.Folks, thanks to Nats Lady, I'm holding the Maalox. Tonight, out of fear and trepidation over Mickey Morse, it's straight bourbon.

Perry was born in Pomona, California and played collegiate baseball at the University of Arizona. While at Arizona, he pitched alongside Tigers teammate Daniel Schlereth. Ryan Perry was drafted by the Detroit Tigers with the 21st overall selection in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.[2] On April 1, 2009 it was announced that Perry would make the opening day roster for the Tigers for the 2009 season.[3] On April 8, Perry made his major league debut against the Toronto Blue Jays. He threw a scoreless eighth inning in the Tigers' 5–1 victory.[4] On June 8, Perry was sent to the Toledo Mud Hens when Jeremy Bonderman came off the disabled list. He began the 2010 season as the middle relief pitcher for Detroit. He recorded his first career win May 1 against the Los Angeles Angels by pitching two-thirds of an inning. On June 10, Perry was placed on the 15 day disabled list with right biceps tendinitis.[5] After rehab in Toledo, he was called back up on July 3.[6] After starting the season with a 12.19 ERA through 13 appearances, Perry was optioned to Toledo on May 28, 2011 to make room for spot starter Andrew Oliver.[7]

Lets just take a look at last year and the injuries that we had (ALR and RZ), NatsLady has a basis to speculate on Morse's injury. We have had too many times in the past were we have been told, it's nothing and then two days later, someone is going under the knife.My position on this, is until we know Morse is trying to play baseball, then is when I will start to worry about Morse.and what the HECK IS BURNETT DOING WALKING THAT GUY.

I hate to say this, but before the season began, I predicted that this could be one of these season where several of our stars are out. I posted this the day Mark informed us that Storen and Morse were out. I never thought this would extend to Zim and Lidge. If Zim and Morse are out for good, this would just be typical DC sports fan luck

Morse was injury-prone from his days in Seattle, so it doesn't surprise me if management believes he's a slow healer. He probably won't admit it, but I suspect Davey Johnson had a big hand in lobbying to get Harper up here.

Drew said… Well, Ross has a 1.64 ERA and we certainly can't complain about that. It's good to know we have our stopper on the hill tomorrow to right the ship (and help mix our metaphors.) April 28, 2012 1:02 AM _______________________________I don't know. Jury is still out. Today was a 4.50 ERA. He came back well after the 1st inning. Still good enough to win the game with some run support but lets face it, he had Kershaw on the other side.

After reading the thread: Mick, while I think it's great that you feel comfortable baring your, er, soul here, I fear you may have ventured into the realm of too much information a time or two last night. Thanks for sharing, though.